NRIs are venturing into film production and direction in the last years. Some of them succeeded and some of them didn’t. Praveen Satharu has been working in USA for the past few years and he is taking a plunge into Telugu film industry by making LBW (Life Before Wedding). LBW is releasing on 18 February. Here are the excerpts of our interview -

Background:
I did my EEE from Madras University and went to do masters in chip designing in USA. I had been in USA for the past 10 years and I am currently working as a SAP consultant in IBM. Our bonding with homeland and culture grows more when we go out of country. I am no exception and I am a huge Telugu film buff. I have noticed that the Telugu cinema is stuck in the same formula for the past few years. They make the same story with different teams. We currently have only masala movies releasing. I crave for masala movies, but I sincerely feel that we should have films from other genres as well. There are lots of movie lovers who are looking for sensible cinema. But our writers are not coming up with good stories.

In stead of blaming the industry, I decided to pen scripts. I am a traveling consultant and I get loads of free time when I am taking flight of 4 hour duration. I penned down two stories while travelling. Over a period of time, I penned five scripts. I am particularly fond of one script which is a true story of a man’s journey from 1939 to 2007. I had inteviewed him and made 130 page script. I wanted to produce that movie. I wanted either K Viswanath or Ram Gopal Varma to direct it. I tried K Viswanath and he said that he has retired from the field. After a long deliberation, I decided to direct a movie. Since this subject is too complex to handle, I decided upon a contemporary script. That is how LBW (Life Before Wedding) happen. I have spent 6 months on pre-production of the movie.

LBW movie:
LBW is a new-age film that focuses on relationships. There has been a rapid change in relationships over the past one decade. This film has two stories simultaniously happening in Dallas and Hyderabad. Each story has three characters. The story takes place over a period of 2 and half years. It is like watching the important moments from the lives of six people.

The US schedule of the movie was completed in 18 days and I shot Hyderabad portion of the movie in 15 days. We used Red One camera. We have completed our post-production in digiquest and DTS mixing in Ramoji Film City.

Budget and digital release:
The entire budget of LBW came to around 2.2 crores. 10% of the budget consists of remuneration and remaining money is spent on making. Since we used Red One digital camera, it became very convenient to edit and modify. All you need is FCP. We are going to release the movie in digital theaters (QUBE/UFO). I feel that digital camera saves cost and is useful in post-production. We should concentrate more on lighting and we should employ an experienced gaffer while shooting with a digital camera.

Characters:

Jai (The Padhati Abbai): Abhejit played the role of Jai who goes by book. He is a righious guy and leads a disciplined lifestyle.

Rishi (Mee abhimana Telugu cinema hero): Siddhu played the role of Rishi. He is a loud and happy-go-lucky guy. He lives life on the edge. He has both good and bad qualities. This film is about choices he make as the story progresses.

Anu (Manchi coffee lanti ammai): Nishanti played the role of Anu. Anu is the girl next door. She is upright and an introvert. The story is about what happens if she is thrown between Jai and Rishi.

Varun (boy friend material): Asif Tej played the role of Varun. He is an Americanized youngster. He is a guy every girl want to be her boy friend. He is confident in approach.

Rajesh (perfect Pelli Koduku): Rohan played this character. He is he kind of guy whom every parents want to marry off their daughter. However, he is a confused soul.

Radha (rowdy rani): Chinmayi G played this role. She is a tom-boy who wears her heart on her sleeve. She stands up for her friends. She is too straight forward, independent and confident.

Future plans:
I am on a long leave and I will be joining my company on 1st March. I want to prove that an IT guy who no filmy background can make a decent and sensible film. If this film fares well, I will make more films. Otherwise, there is always a job for me to fall back on.